Reps seek increase in parliamentary seats to 552

The House of Representatives has proposed a Constitution amendment to reserve 10 per cent of seats in the National Assembly for women and five per cent for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

Under the proposed framework, 83 additional seats would be created exclusively for women. That is 55 in the House of Representatives, increasing its membership from 360 to 415, and 28 in the Senate, raising the total number of seats in the National Assembly from 469 to 552.

The Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, who announced the proposal at the official opening of the 2025 House of Representatives Open Week and launch of the 10th House Midterm Legislative Scorecard in Abuja, said the draft amendment seeks to embed the quotas in the Constitution to ensure long-term gender and disability inclusion.

Abbas said the reserved seats would be filled through direct elections on separate ballots and distributed by states to ensure regional balance.

Five per cent of existing seats, he added, would be reserved for PWDs, with candidates nominated by accredited disability advocacy organisations.

He pointed out: “At Independence in 1960, women occupied less than one per cent of parliamentary seats. By 1990, it had only risen to two per cent. In 1999, women held just 3.9 per cent in the House and four per cent in the Senate. Today, despite constituting half the population, women’s representation remains stagnant.”